Usually, this little section of bandwith at WEEI.com is devoted exclusively to Patriots’ information, analysis and commentary. (We leave the hardcore hockey analysis to him and, when he’s not writing about pit bulls or d-bags, this guy.)
But with the Stanley Cup Finals taking place this week, it’s our duty to inform people that any self-respecting Patriots’ fan should take a second and appreciate what Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidstrom and the rest of the Detroit Red Wings are about to do.
Detroit coach Mike Babcock doesn’t wear a hoodie, and no New England fan has ever thrown an octopus on the field after a touchdown. But it’s clear the Wings have taken a page from the Patriots’ management style. You don’t need to be able to know the difference between a red line and a blue line to see that New England and Detroit are cut from the same cloth. They go about their day-to-day operations using the same overall philosophy -- when it comes to putting together your franchise, don’t just collect talent. Assemble a team.
Check out a portion of this 2008 manifesto from Detroit GM Ken Holland that was printed in The Hockey News. (Disclaimer: There’s an extremely gratuitous plug somewhere in the following paragraph for something I’ve previously written. I’ll let you find it for yourselves.)
“I don’t think team-building (in the salary cap era) is any different except the guys who used to make $10 million a year now make $7 million a year. I read a book called ‘The Blueprint,’ about the NFL’s New England Patriots, who to me are the best team in the world at managing the cap. I learned from the book. The Patriots have a lot of above-average players to go with a core of players they draft and develop, and they have a handful of superstars.”
The Red Wings picked up a 3-1 win over the Penguins Sunday night to take a 2-0 lead in the finals, and are now just two wins away from their fifth Stanley Cup in 12 years. How have they done it? According to Holland, much of the success of the two teams can be traced back to an adherence to an overall salary structure that has kept them competitive year after year.
“They make sure they don’t lose Tom Brady, and we don’t lose Nick Lidstrom,” Holland told USA Today in February 2008 when asked to compare the Red Wings and Patriots’ overall management styles. “The idea is, don’t lose your key guys and don’t overpay your middle-class guys. And then you have to draft well and develop well.”
As a result, among what passes for the hockey cognoscenti, the Detroit management style inspires comparisons with only one other professional sports team.
“They’re like the Patriots,” ESPN hockey analyst Barry Melrose recently told reporters who asked about the success of the Red Wings. “This is a dynasty.”
Here’s a thumbnail sketch of what the two organizations have in common:
•They’ve created a series of core beliefs shared by everyone throughout the organization, and have not strayed from those ideals. Holland and, until this most recent offseason, Scott Pioli in New England have worked hand-in-hand with ownership and the coaching staff on establishing a consistent course of action for their respective teams. And those front offices know real success is seen not in day-to-day triumphs but whether or not you can hang a banner in your rink at the end of the season.
•Both lean heavily a collection of heady and established veterans, players who fit their system and can be counted on to create a culture of winning. Creating a positive infrastructure within the locker room can cure a lot of ills. Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Richard Seymour and Rodney Harrison, meet Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen and the since-retired Steve Yzerman.
•They rarely go all-in on a big-ticket free agent, but when they do, they’ve wooed them not with the promise of money, but the chance to be a part of something special. You might not get the best deal here, but what’s a few million … as long as we can win a championship? Rosevelt Colvin and Marian Hossa have more in common than they might think.
•Neither has been afraid to cut ties with an established player, no matter how successful they may have been. In the salary cap era, a bad contract can hobble forward progress for years. Brendan Shanahan, Sergei Federov, Drew Bledsoe and Lawyer Milloy were both all of championship teams, but left town earlier than they would have liked.
•They both put a premium on scouting and drafting. But at the same time, they’ve both gotten insanely lucky. You can have all the smart trades, exercise all the fiscal prudence and sign all smart executives you want, but history says you also need to find guys like Brady in the sixth round or Zetterberg in the seventh round if you want to be really special.
Sound familiar?
Neither team has been perfect: People in Foxborough would love for you to forget the names Steve Martin, Donald Hayes and Monty Beisel, while “Dave Lewis” is regarded as a epithet among Detroit hockey fans. (Come to think of it, he isn’t thought of too highly in these parts either, but that’s a column for another day.) But in the end, Holland’s decision to base the Wings’ management style on the Bill Belichick-Scott Pioli method has paid off handsomely -- after Sunday night, it has the Red Wings on the verge of another Stanley Cup.
All right, now we’re done. We return you now to hardcore hockey analysis -- back to you, Joe.
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